Wow, couple of weeks since I blogged - it has been a very busy time at work (in fact 2005 has been full-on so far!). Anyhow - I've just finished an installation that had a couple of Final Cut Pro workstations as well as a TerraBlock SAN - The TerraBlock I love and blogged about previously - a real pointer to the future of affordable SAN solutions in the face of Avid etc. Final Cut Pro I am indifferent to - I know some folks love it but I have to say that next to Avid it isn't yet a mature product and seems a strange mix of very antiquity (reminds me of a mid-80's VTR editor) and the new. BUT - the thing that really annoyed me is the
DeckLink Extreme video cards we integrate into the G5s - on paper they look great - SDi with embedded as well as analogue component and analogue audio, but when you try and use the thing in a multi-format environment you soon realise they should have used a couple more FPGAs.
- If you capture SDi video it will only capture embedded audio - not great if you are converting a UMatic (or VHS) to digits - you need an additional embedder.
- It randomly swaps the colour component inputs - sometimes it's Y, Cr, Cb , sometimes Y, Cb, Cr!
- During capture the only audio o/p that is live is the SPDif - you are obliged to use yet another converter!
So you wind up with a very reasonably priced $895 card but you invariably have to spend twice that on converters.
3 comments:
Argh!
The output of the card has an incorrect sync-picture ratio (should be 54 micro-sec fact fans!). Black Magic are aware but won't be issuing a driver fix 'till after NAB!
I hope I never have to integrate one of these again!
hmm....my DeckLink Extreme outputs audio via the XLR connectors when capturing. Maybe you're doing something wrong?
Yeah - but here's my point - it's so variable. According to Grant Petty at Black Magic the ONLY o/p that is guaranteed;
1. To be sync
2. Doesn't have audio splats
3. Is present(!)
is the SPDif - the reliability of the others depends on such factors as driver revision, audio source (analogue or embedded) and wether the carad is genlocked. So you may have a configuration that works - which is fine for small boutique operations or wedding videography but is hopeless if you're trying to integrate into a broadcast TV setup.
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